Blog, News & Events

Keep up to date with our latest news stories and events. Read more about our new projects, technologies and useful information.

Ansell Garden Centre

February 4, 2019 by corbyfellas

We are delighted to announce that we have successfully installed WinRetail at Ansell garden Centre. We are looking forward to working with Mr Raithatha and all of the fantastic team at Ansell Garden Centre

Mr Raithatha is pictured above with Matt Chrisostomou, C+F Head of Technical Support

Merry Christmas

December 12, 2018 by corbyfellas

Dear friends, customers and associates
This year we have decided that, rather than sending out Christmas cards, we would give a donation to the charity Mind; a charity which, for several reasons, is particularly close to our hearts.
We wish you all a very Happy & Peaceful Christmas, and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.
Alan, Chris, George and all at Corby & Fellas

Corby & Fellas are delighted to announce that, yet another prestigious garden centre – The Old Railway Line Garden Centre in Brecon, Powys – has installed WinRetail, the powerful, comprehensive and fully integrated Retail Management EPoS, E-commerce and Retail Management System.
The Old Railway Line Garden Centre, which just been voted the GCA’s best ‘Garden Centre in Wales and the West’ for the 7th consecutive year, had some very specific requirements when it came to selecting a new system. So, they sought the advice of several large and experienced garden centres before deciding who would be the ‘best fit’. Having received many positive reports regarding Corby + Fellas, they decided to short list WinRetail.
Alan McCammon, C+F’s Managing Director, who dealt with The Old Railway Line’s brief, explained that: “As well as the ‘standard’ EPOS System requirements, they needed a fully integrated, real-time e-commerce system, with links to Amazon. Furthermore, they were particularly focussed on being able to analyse customer behaviour; a requirement that our CRM/Retail Intelligence module was able to handle by enabling retailers who operate any form of membership, reward or loyalty scheme to track their customer’s purchasing patterns at a very detailed level. It also has the capability to segment by demographic, manage offers, promotions and campaigns, and communicate to members via MailJet”.
Old Railway Line General manager, Huw Lewis, commented: “The time had come to invest in a new EPOS system in order for us to drive various aspects of our business forward for the future. After a great deal of research and several demonstrations we felt that the system from Corby and Fellas was the right choice for our business. Overall, we were very impressed with the system especially the CRM system which will allow us to target our marketing and integrates many systems we previously used into one single operation. We felt that Corby and Fellas were a very forward-thinking company and had the technical knowledge and skills to continually develop a system that will grow with us.”
The team at The Old Railway Line will be taking advantage of WinRetail’s Accounting Interface to Sage 50 Professional, which is one of the many such interfaces that WinRetail offers. They are also keenly anticipating some of the system’s exciting new features, such as:

• A customer facing APP for smartphones and tablets that enables retailers to keep in touch with their customers; with the ability to disseminate news regarding events, special offers, promotions, etc. The APP also allows customers to accurately and securely sign-up for membership of loyalty/rewards schemes via their chosen platform
• An Integrated Events and Bookings module, which operates in in real-time and is available both online and in-store using an EPoS terminal.
• Restaurant Table Service APP with integrated card payments facility
• A tablet based version of the EPOS module, which can be linked to a wireless Chip & PIN terminal and printer. Ideal for handling furniture sales, for mobile order taking, etc.
• Farm Shop scales interface (Bizerba), which handles any combination of promotions for weighed and measured items.
• Home Delivery Scheduling system that allows the delivery of customer orders to be allocated by date, time and vehicle type, using a delivery postcode, product weight and product dimensions.

Welcome Jay to Corby + Fellas

December 5, 2018 by corbyfellas

A big welcome to Jay Turner, the newest team member at Corby + Fellas. Jay will be working with the technical support team and looks forward to working closely with all our customers.

GTN Xtra – Tong chooses WinRetail, C&F’s EPoS system

November 19, 2018 by corbyfellas

http://tgcmc.newsweaver.co.uk/gtnxtra/1rvpz91hyy0

Corby & Fellas are delighted to announce that Tong Garden Centre have become one of the latest users of WinRetail, our comprehensive and fully integrated EPoS and Retail Management System.

Charlie Barker, Tong’s Finance Director, contacted Corby & Fellas in the spring 2018, having recently joined the company. Tong were keen to grow their business and wanted to introduce a new, more advanced, system that would support the plans and help to exploit the company’s potential.

He spoke to several larger garden centre businesses and, having received positive reports about Corby & Fellas, decided that he would consider adopting WinRetail.

Fortunately, Corby & Fellas’ demonstration to Mark Farnsworth, Charlie Barker and their operations team, was good enough to convince them that C&F had the right software, the technical knowledge and the ability to provide first class support.

There were several specific areas of the business where WinRetail’s potential was clear:

The Farm Shop, which includes a butchery and delicatessen, uses Bizerba scales to output barcoded labels. The barcode has encoded within it the stock code, price and weight of the item weighed; this is affixed to the packaged item and, subsequently, presented at an EPoS terminal

The Café/Restaurant sells both ready-prepared food and hot dishes, which are made up in a kitchen, behind the scenes. When a customer orders a hot dish, they order their food at an EPoS terminal, from where the details of their order are transmitted to the kitchen and printed out on a dedicated printer. They have table tracker, this allows the team to locate the customer at whichever table they choose to sit at.

Tong required the system to output accurate and timely management reports; such reports being produced to a schedule that ensures that the right report is transmitted to the right person at the right time.

It is essential that the system integrates with Sage Accounts to reduce the time taken to post data and ensuring its accuracy

Ability to handle the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

A comprehensive CRM (Customer Relationship Management) module to help in producing and targeting marketing campaigns

Mark commented: “I think another reason for choosing C&F is the ability of the system to get information out thereby enabling us to make better decisions. That was a key objective of ours at the start of the project and the C&F system was, in our view, the most advanced.”

Tong Garden Centre

October 29, 2018 by corbyfellas

Corby + Fellas are delighted to announce the successful implementation of our acclaimed WinRetail Stock Control and Retail Management System at Tong Garden Centre. We look forward to a mutually beneficial working relationship with another Garden Centre Company that shares its values, ethos and ambitions with ours.

Pictured is Steven Fellas, Head of Projects, along with Mark Farnsworth MD and Charlie Barker, FD.

Congratulations Rosebourne

October 8, 2018 by corbyfellas

It was a great day at the opening of Rosebourne’s second site at Aldermaston and a received a perfect 10 from Strictly Come Dancing Judge Craig Revel Horwood!

Corby + Fellas are very proud to be associated with Rosebourne and provide our WinRetail Management System, as well as our new Restaurant Service Application – all ready for the grand opening – and strictly speaking, we’d love a 10 too! For more details see https://www.corbyfellas.com/ or call Sales on 01493 658800

Rosebourne Aldermaston has been developed on the site of White Towers Nursery, which had been there for 26 years previously, using EIS funding. The same model used by Rosebourne for Weyhill and also being used by Carol Paris’ Somerton business.

Carol Paris is joining the Rosebourne team temporarily to help with the integration of Wyevale Solihull into the Rosebourne group. Solihull, a former Blooms of Bressingham centre, hence very well known to Jon Kitching, is a leasehold site and that purchase has been financed via bank lending.

As you’ll see from our photo tour below, Rosebourne Aldermaston follows the successful template of Weyhill Andover very closely, with just a few differences:

A local butcher, based in Tatcham.

Rosebourne are doing the deli themselves.

Planteria double the size.

Restaurant not so long and narrow to reduce the distance and time from the pass to the table.

In the waitress served restaurant servers use Corby + Fellas mobile systems to take orders, print bills and take payments direct at the table without having to go back to any till point.

Rosebourne Aldermaston key facts:

5,000 sq m

220 main car parking spaces + 60 in overflow

Retail food sales 20% of turnover, catering 25%

Bigger planteria than at Andover – double the size

23 retail food freezers

200 covers in waitress served restaurant

Coopers (Gt. Yarmouth) Ltd. – Testimonial

“From the initial conception and installation, to on-going support and development, the Corby & Fellas service has been very professional, open and friendly. This is evident from the way our teams have accepted the new system with such enthusiasm.

They all like the fact that it’s so easy to understand and to operate, giving us some real benefits. In addition, they have found that the Stock‑Taking function to be particularly easy to use, allowing this onerous task to be carried out speedily and accurately.

I am very happy with our decision to use Corby & Fellas, whom I find to be professional and approachable. They have an excellent understanding of retailing and I feel confident that they are a stable enterprise with a sound business ethos and that they will be around for many years to come.

I believe that we have invested our time and money in a first-class system that will provide us with all the facilities that we need both now an in the future. I look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Corby & Fellas.”

David Brighouse, ACMA, CGMA

Company Accountant

The Mill Restaurant, Millbrook Garden Centre, Gravesend

Situated in the beautiful surroundings of our plant area, The Mill is our brand new restaurant, open daily for breakfast, lunch, coffee and cake. The space is light, airy and very inviting – perfect for meeting friends for breakfast or lunch, or taking a few minutes out of your day to enjoy a hand-crafted coffee from our barista bar with a slice of homemade cake.

Our lunch menu offers a range of freshly-prepared salads, quiches and savouries from the Deli Bar. If you fancy something hot, then head to the Kitchen Classics counter where you can enjoy traditional dishes such as shepherd’s pie, fish and chips or roast of the day.

With free parking, easy access for both wheelchairs and pushchairs, a children’s menu and highchairs for our younger customers, plus an outside seating area where dogs are welcome, we have something for everyone.

The Mill is open Mon – Sat 9am – 5pm and Sunday 9.30am – 3.30pm.
Breakfast is served from 9am (9.30am on Sundays) until 11.30am.
Lunch is served from 12noon until 2.30pm.

We look forward to welcoming you!

Please be aware that while we welcome dogs in the garden centre and the outside seating area, only assistance dogs are allowed inside the restaurant.

The Mill also incorporates a large events room which is available for private hire, please email gravesendinfo@millbrookgc.co.uk for further information.”

Colin Squire, Chairman of Squire’s Garden Centres, received his OBE from His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace on Friday 18th May. He was given the award in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours list in recognition of his services to the horticultural industry and to charity.

Colin Squire said: “It was a very special day, and lovely to share it with my two daughters Sarah and Elizabeth and their families. I felt immensely honoured. I have been very fortunate to work in this wonderful industry and to have enjoyed the support and friendship of so many inspirational people over the years.”

Colin Squire with his daughters Sarah and Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace

Squire’s is a successful family business, with 15 garden centres across the South East. The company was founded by Colin’s father D.J. Squire as a nursery and landscape business over 80 years ago, and Colin (81) formally joined the business in the late 1950’s and developed the group’s garden centres.

Colin’s daughter Sarah Squire, Deputy Chairman at Squire’s commented: “It was a wonderful day, and an absolute privilege to celebrate my father’s achievements, both in horticulture and in his charity and community work. It is my father’s character, values and judgment that permeate the business, and his enthusiasm, ready smile and commitment are reflected throughout the organisation. We are all so proud of him.”

Published: 29 May 2018 – Kiran Grewal, DIY Week

Henstead Hike 2018

May 17, 2018 by corbyfellas

On Friday 25th May, the children of our Sales & Marketing Manger Kim and grandchildren of Chris Corby will be doing a challenging hike from the Waveney and Oulton Broad Yacht Club and finishing at The Old School Henstead. Tabatha (aged 11) will be doing the full 12 miles, whereas Elliot (aged 6) will be doing (a still impressive) 3 miles.

Chris Corby’s wife, Rosie Corby and Kim will also be doing the Hike but the donation page is for sponsorship of the children only. If you would kindly like to donate please follow the link below and quote on the donation ‘Tabatha and Elliot’ and any message.

“A few years ago, QD made a pledge to the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices Nook appeal, that we would raise £25k over 3 years. After 18 months we had smashed this target through some amazing efforts from our colleagues, and we are trying hard to push for triple figures to see their new hospice being built. I have spent the last few years nagging the teams to get behind the appeal, and now it is my turn to get off of my sofa and do something to help! Somehow I have been talked into taking part in the 3 peaks challenge, where we have 24 hours to climb the highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales. This is such a worthy cause!! We have set a target of raising £5k from this challenge.”